Red Dragon
by MyHumpsMyLovelyLadyLumps
Summary: What if Peter had an entirely different set of powers? What if instead of doing whatever a spider can, he did whatever a dragon can? Peter Parker is: The Red Dragon. Originally posted on AO3.
1. Chapter 1

It was just before the start of the school semester, the year: 2012. Everyone was going crazy because today the Wishing Star would be making its appearance. It was a meteor that only showed up once every 500 years. A piece would break off the meteor and fall to Earth. It was called the Wishing Star because it granted wishes. The first three people to touch it would receive three wishes. One wish per person. The star was scheduled to land in New York City this time. NASA had calculated its trajectory using a advanced telescope to track its movement. While they couldn't pinpoint exactly where it would land in the city, they had narrowed it down enough that people could evacuate the area.

Of course not everyone would be leaving. Most wanted to claim the star for themselves. So quite a few people were left in New York City when the evacuation was over. As night fell, people gathered outside their homes to look up at the sky and wait. Soon the star was visible, a bright blue streak against the darkness of space. People stood in the streets, on top of buildings, wherever there was space, waiting impatiently for their chance at a wish. Peter Parker was one of those people.

Not many people knew that Peter was Spider-Man, but he didn't care. He didn't do it for the attention, he did it because it was the right thing to do. There was only one person he wanted the approval of. His uncle, Ben. Unfortunately, uncle Ben was no longer with us. Those reading this story probably already know what happened. A criminal, that Peter himself let escape, shot and killed his uncle. Since then Peter had taken his uncle's last words to him to heart. "With great power, there must also come great responsibility."

Now, Peter was Spider-Man, saving lives and stopping crime whenever he could. Unfortunately, there were some people who did not take kindly to his being a vigilante. While some called him a hero, even a super-hero, others called him a menace. Namely, one Jay Jonah Jameson. JJJ hated him so much, Peter was actually afraid of what he might wish for. So when the Wishing Star finally landed, and Peter web-swung to its location, only to find JJJ had beaten him to it, he was mortified. What exactly did JJJ have planned for him?

Fortunately, JJJ was on camera, and since he had to maintain his positive public image, he chose not to kill Spider-Man. Instead he chose to end his super-hero career. By erasing his powers. Somehow that was even worse. Peter stared down at the scene in horror as JJJ held up the star fragment and made his wish. "I wish Spider-Man was no longer a super-human, but just a regular human, without powers."

As the star fragment began to glow with an unearthly blue light, Peter felt his last hope, that maybe the legends about the star weren't true, disappearing quickly. Just as quickly, he felt his hands begin to slip. Then he was falling. Off the side of the building, into a dumpster. Then the dumpster's lid slammed shut on top of him. Well, that was undignified. And embarrassing. Hopefully no one saw. He slowly lifted the lid to peer out. He saw... Nothing. Well, he could sort of see, but everything was all fuzzy. He groaned. He used to wear glasses before he became Spider-Man. The star must have counted his improved vision as a power. Great.

He pulled himself out of the dumpster and sat down on the ground. How was he going to make it home now? He couldn't web-swing because he couldn't see straight, or even feel things with his spider-sense. He sat there stewing in his thoughts for what seemed like ages. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He tried to look up. His blurry vision showed him what looked like a person.

"Hey, Spidey." an unfamiliar voice said. It was distinctly female.

"Hi." he said back.

"Um... Here, take this." she said, pressing something into his hands. Then all of a sudden he could see. He blinked owlishly up at the girl, before glancing down at the object in his hands. It was a gemstone, about two and a half inches wide at in diameter. It was a perfect sphere, and a beautiful shade of scarlet. Peter stared at it in wonder.

"What is it?" he wondered.

"I don't know. Somebody else wished for it. A bunch of people got real mad at Jameson and yelled at him, then the next person who touched the star wished for this. They said it would give you new super-powers." she explained. "I volunteered to find you and give it to you."

"Wow. That's like... Wow. This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me." Peter said. He held the gemstone close to him. Then a thought occurred to him.

"What kind of powers does it give me?" he wondered.

"The girl who wished for it said it was the soul-stone of a dragon. She said dragons keep their conscious minds inside organic jewels like humans keep theirs in our brains. As long as you have the soul-stone, the dragon inside can lend you its powers. Like super-strength or whatever." she said, uncertainly. "I'm not sure if all that is true or not, that's just what she said."

"...Well, whatever it is, it's definitely working. My eyesight has improved." Peter said, slowly. "I needed glasses before I became Spider-Man, and when I lost my powers my vision got all fuzzy."

"You used to wear glasses?" she asked, surprised. "Why not contacts? You would look like less of a dork. No offense."

"Not everyone can afford contacts. Plus there can be other reasons for not wearing them. Like your eyes might be easily irritated." Peter pointed out.

"Huh. I never thought of that." she said, looking uncomfortable. She was probably one of those people who picked on others for wearing glasses.

"Well, thanks for the stone." Peter said, standing up. "I better get going before someone else does something stupid to me."

"Oh, the last wish was already made. Some other girl wished for her grandma to be cured of cancer." she said. "No one else got to make any wishes after that. The star just sort of crumbled into ash."

"Oh. OK." Peter said. He stood there uncomfortably for a moment until the girl pulled out a ringing cell phone.

"It's my mom." she said, embarrassed. "I gotta get home. See you later, maybe?"

"Sure." Peter answered, relieved that someone had broken the awkward moment. "Can you tell the girl who wished for the stone, that I said thanks?"

"Absolutely. Bye, Spidey." she said, then looked thoughtful. "Well, I guess you're not Spider-Man anymore. You better come up with a new name, or the media will come up with something for you. Knowing them it'll be something stupid."

"Yeah. I'll be needing a new costume too." Peter said, looking down at his costume. "You know any decent thrift shops? My budget is kind of limited."

"There's a Goodwill store on West 25th street, I think." she said. "It's got all kinds of stuff."

Suddenly she looked embarrassed.

"Um... My budget is kind of limited too." she muttered.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Peter said, sincerely. "Not everyone can be Tony Stark."

The girl smiled. Well, it was more of a grimace, really.

"Thanks. Tell me when you come up with a new name." she said. "Bye."

"Bye." Peter replied. Then they parted ways. Peter headed home to Queens.

"Aunt May?" Peter called, as he slipped through the front door. He was back in his normal attire.

"Yes, Peter. I'm in the living room." she called back. He entered the living room to see her watching a news report on the Wishing Star and the people who claimed their wishes. JJJ and the girl who replaced Peter's powers were going at it. JJJ was in the middle of one of his rants on vigilantes, but the girl, Aurora Drake, was having none of it. They were exchanging bouts of shouted words at each other and generally just being jerks. Both of them seemed to have quite the temper. Neither was willing to budge on their opinions of Spider-Man. It made Peter feel a little better to know that there were people out there who actually appreciated what he did for the city.

"Are you all right, Peter?" May asked. She looked sad.

"Yeah. I'm just a little disappointed that I couldn't get one of the wishes." Peter said. He had already told his aunt he was going to wish for uncle Ben to come back. Both of them had gotten their hopes up a little too high. He could see his aunt was crushed that he hadn't succeeded.

"I'm sorry, aunt May." he whispered. "There were so many people there. I wasn't even on the same street. By the time I got there, there was already a huge crowd."

"You did your best, dear. Besides, it's probably for the best. Messing around with life and death is for God, Peter." May said, gently. Peter nodded glumly.

"I'm going to bed, now." he said. "I've got some last minute back-to-school shopping to do tomorrow."

"OK. I'll be down here for a while if you need me." May said. Peter went upstairs to his room. He pulled his costume out of his back pack and started pulling the seams apart gently. Maybe he could reuse some of the fabric...


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Peter went to Goodwill. It was the last day before school started, and people were bustling about to collect their school supplies. He started looking for skin-tight clothes that he could wear under his normal clothes, but there weren't any. He settled on a pair of red, knee-high socks, black denim jeans, a red long-sleeved t-shirt, black gloves, and a black vest. The vest was the most expensive part of the outfit, nearly 120 dollars altogether. He had to have it. The vest had red, dragon-like wings patterned on the back, and it was made of black snakeskin. It fit his new identity perfectly. Now he just needed a name, and a mask.

He went home with his purchases, and looked through his closet. He pulled out one of his earliest Spider-Man masks. Plain red, with black patterns around the eye-holes. No lenses to cover his eyes. He looked through his selection of lenses. There wasn't anything that really screamed "dragon". Finally, he pulled out a pair of goggles with reflective golden lenses. They looked like biker's goggles. He had no idea where they had come from. He turned them over in his hands. There was a name stenciled on the inside of the rubber strap. Richard Parker.

Peter stared. Where had he gotten these? Had they always been sitting on the top shelf in his closet? Had they really belonged to his father? Why had his father had them? Did he ride motorcycles? Deciding he needed answers, he left the rest of his costume in the closet, and headed downstairs with the goggles.

"Aunt May?" he called.

"In the kitchen, Peter." she called back. Walking into the kitchen, he showed the goggles to his aunt.

"Are these my dad's?" he asked quietly. She frowned at them.

"I'm not sure. He had so many goggles, dear, it's hard to recall any of them." she said.

"Did he ride bikes?" he asked. She nodded thoughtfully.

"He rode them all the time. He said it felt good to feel the wind on his skin. Like he was flying." she said. Peter smiled, he understood the feeling.

"OK. Thanks, aunt May. I'm gonna go out for awhile. I'll be back for dinner." he said.

"Did you get everything you needed at the store?" she asked as he started out of the room.

"Yeah." he said. "I'm gonna check some more stores, though. In case there is anything on sale."

"OK, Take some cake with you. You didn't eat lunch." she called to him while he was on the stairs.

"I'll get some on my way out." he called back. He hurried to his room and grabbed his new costume. He put it in his backpack, along with the goggles. He hurried back downstairs. His aunt had cut him off a slice of the cake she had just finished making. He grabbed it and a napkin and headed out. He ate the cake as he walked.

As soon as he was no longer in sight of his house, Peter turned into an alleyway. Peering around to make sure he was alone, he stopped and ducked behind some trash cans. He pulled out his costume and changed into it. Then he pulled out the so-called "soul-stone". He turned it over in his hands. It seemed ordinary enough. Except it was very warm. He slipped off his glove to feel it. As soon as it came in contact with his skin, it began to melt. The ruby-red fluid was then absorbed into his skin like water into a dry sponge.

"What the heck?" he breathed.

"There are no adults around to be offended if you swear." a voice said in his head. It was sort of grumbly. Gasoline and gravel, he'd call it. It was unnerving to hear it, especially since it was in his head.

"Who are you? Where are you? How are you talking to me?" he demanded.

"I'm the Red Dragon, Caedis." the voice said. "Technically I'm inside you. I'm telepathic."

"Inside... Oh, so you're the dragon in the stone." he realized.

"Yes. I required a vessel, a body, in order to wield my power. I was told to assist you in combat, so I assumed it would be easiest to make you my vessel." Caedis said.

"OK. Makes sense, I guess. I just wished you would have asked first." Peter said.

"Would you have said no? Remember, human, you are nearly powerless without me." Caedis pointed out. "I was once worshipped as a goddess. My might was legendary. The Red Dragon, the Blood Dragon, Goddess of Blood, Goddess of Gore, Carnage Beast, Misery. I had many names, each speaking of my prowess in combat. None were my equal on the battlefield."

"Uh... That's great. I'm not really into the whole killing people thing." Peter said. "Can you not?"

"Of course. My interest lies primarily in the arts and sciences." Caedis said, smoothly. "I'll assist you in whatever endeavor you may undertake."

"Oh. You're a scientist?" Peter asked.

"And an artist." Caedis answered. "Though not a very good one. My stick figures are terrible."

Peter smiled slightly.

"I probably couldn't do much better." he said. Then he looked around.

"What kind of powers can you give me?" he asked in an undertone.

"That depends on how much energy your body can tolerate. My powers can accomplish just about anything, but there is a limit to what I can do in a human body. Too much power could kill you." Caedis said, seriously.

"Hmm. Let's start small then... How about enhancing my own strength?" Peter asked.

"Easy enough. Force equals mass times acceleration. I can increase both." Caedis said. "I can also heal you if your body can't handle the exertion."

"Cool. How strong can you make me?" Peter asked.

"Let's find out." Caedis answered.

After practicing with his new powers for a while, Peter felt confident enough to try fighting crime again. They set out to clean up the streets. JJJ had been complaining of a sudden surge of petty crimes all along Peter's usual patrol routes. He still didn't seem to realize that it was his fault for getting rid of Spider-Man. Oh, well. Peter was ready to get back into the game.

He had stopped several muggings and a would-be car thief, when he heard engines roaring in the distance. Someone didn't have a car muffler. He ran along rooftops, jumping high into the air to get from one building to another with relative ease. He now had claws coming out of his fingertips and toes. He was able to get a decent enough grip on the concrete to scale the skyscrapers that plagued this busy city.

Finally, he made it to his destination. A fancy sports-car was barreling along busy streets, sliding between other cars with barely enough room to squeeze through. It ripped the rear-view mirror off of one. He frowned. Where was this guy going in such a hurry? His question was answered a moment later. Several police cruisers came screaming down the street, barely pausing long enough for other cars to get out of the way. Sirens blaring, they slowly closed the gap between them and the sports-car. That's when the driver of the sports-car started shooting.

He fired at the cops, but the bullets pinged off to scatter into the rapidly panicking crowd of onlookers. Peter's eyes widened in horror. This guy was out of control! He was gonna kill somebody! Momentarily forgetting he didn't bring his web-shooters with him, he dove off the side of the building as the sports-car shot past below. As the ground got closer beneath him, he realized his mistake. He closed his eyes just before he reached the ground... And landed with the ease and grace of a cat on all fours.

"What?" he muttered. Then the car was right in front of him. His eyes widened. He threw his arms out in front of him. The car slammed into him. He closed his eyes again. The car skidded to a halt, tires screeching on the pavement. He opened his eyes.

"Huh. Guess I'm good here." he muttered.

"Duh." muttered Caedis. "What do you take me for?"

"Sorry." he said, smiling beneath his mask. As he did, the driver of the car got out. His eyes widened in surprise. It was the same punk who had shot uncle Ben. Who let him out of prison?

"We could just kill him." Caedis suggested. He thought about it. Then anger shot through him. Anger at this jerk, anger at Caedis for suggesting such a thing, and anger at himself for considering it. He picked up the car and used it to knock the punk off his feet. Immediately, he regretted it. Caedis laughed in his head as he gently set the car down and approached the man. Fortunately, he was still alive, and breathing. He was even still conscious, though it looked like he was having trouble getting to his feet. He stopped trying to move as Peter approached.

"Please, don't kill me!" he gasped. Peter sighed. He reached down and swatted away the gun from the man's hand. He flinched. Peter gestured to the cops, as they cautiously approached. Then he turned around and jumped on top of a nearby building, and ran. He just ran, and ran. Hoping he could run away from what he'd just done. He'd almost killed a man. Why?


	3. Chapter 3

Page | 11

It was nearly a week later before Peter managed to get his new dragon-like anger under control. It took several more incidents before he fully understood his triggers, and what to do to calm himself down. Caedis explained that all dragons had fierce tempers and being her vessel not only gave him the physical attributes of a dragon, but the mental ones as well. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It gave him a better grasp of how to use his powers, and even made him more frugal with his money. Dragons were natural treasure-hoarders, after all.

While being able to budget better and fight better, he was still worried about his temper. When not in what he was starting to refer to as "dragon-mode", he was relatively the same as he was before, with very few changes to his personality. However, Caedis explained that even when not in "dragon-mode" there was still a slim degree of influence she had over him. This was not something she could help. He was worried he would have a hard time keeping his dragon side in check.

His temper had some odd triggers, like vegans and vegetarians trying to push their lifestyle decisions on him. Meat was necessary in order to live healthily. He learned that in Biology. There was a vitamin in meat that could not be found anywhere but animal products. That was just a simple fact of life. Besides, who didn't like meat? Bacon, hamburgers, sausage, there were so many good meats.

Then there were Christians insisting he needed more Jesus in his life. While he certainly hoped God was real and prayed with aunt May occasionally, he didn't have time to go to church regularly, and he didn't need people randomly approaching him on the street to ask him if he'd spoken to God today.

He was raised Protestant, and was happy to keep telling himself that God was real, but deep inside him, he felt that some things in the Bible were just nonsense. Like Jesus feeding so many people with so little food. That wasn't possible, according to the laws of thermodynamics. At the same time, he couldn't help wondering if maybe it was just metaphorical. Like maybe, Jesus' "fish miracle" was just a nuclear fusion reaction that was creating extra matter. That he could understand and believe in. Did that make him Agnostic? He wasn't sure, but he barely had time in his personal life to enjoy what life had to offer, he didn't have time to be asking what would happen after life. He'd worry about that when his time came.

There was always the possibility that these were not his thoughts at all, however. As he was becoming ever more aware of, Caedis was influencing almost all of his day to day decisions in a small way. He had developed a bigger appreciation for the arts, and even developed an interest in cooking, something that had never really appealed to him before. Caedis had vaguely mentioned that all dragons cooked their food the way humans did, and that their fire-breath had evolutionarily developed as a tool rather than a weapon.

He was ruminating on this and other thoughts as JJJ continued his rant in the background. His usual insults against Spider-Man were now replaced by vague hand gestures around him and vaguely worded phrases like "fire-breathing menace" and "lizard-freak". He didn't seem to know what to call Peter, since Peter had yet to come up with a decent name for himself. His fans, new and old, had taken to calling him the "Red Dragon". Perhaps that would work.

He leapt to another building and heard a screeching noise beneath him. Looking below, he saw a cop car swerving out of control. It was headed right for a bakery. Keeping his cool, he reached for his newly-added utility belt. Grabbing a modified paint-ball pistol, he fired at the window of the bakery. A web shot out of the barrel and splattered over the window. The cop car was caught up in the web and stopped half-way through rolling over. A cop crawled out of a window of the car. He looked around before spotting Peter.

"I'm starting to think Jameson's wrong about you, Dragon." he called up to him.

"Spread the word, chief." Peter called back. Then he jumped down to land in front of an armored car that was glued to the ground. The Trapster stepped out of it.

"Hiyah, flame-brain. I knew that would draw you out." he said.

"Who's this idiot?" Caedis asked.

"The Trapster." Peter said aloud. Then muttering to Caedis, "I've fought him three times before. It never ends well. He uses glue to fight."

The Trapster quick-drew his glue-gun. Peter jumped over the spray of glue and punched the Trapster right in the face. He went flying and hit a car. He fell to the ground, then looked up at Peter. Getting to his feet, the Trapster hurled a couple of glue-grenades. Peter jumped up and kicked the glue-grenades away. As he landed, a third glue-grenade arrived at his feet. He jumped up and away, but it splattered glue all over him as it exploded.

That's how he found himself glued to the wall by one arm and leg. He struggled. The Trapster raised his glue gun. Reaching into his utility belt, Peter pulled out a scrap of metal. He threw it. Then he raised his hand and fired a ball of fire from his fingertips. The metal scrap melted, and landed inside the barrel of the Trapster's glue-gun. The Trapster had already pulled the trigger. His eyes widened as he realized what Peter had done. The tank of glue on his back exploded.

When the smoke cleared, the Trapster was stuck in a mound of glue. Peter ripped his arm away from the wall, and jumped down. He walked over to the Trapster. Caedis was laughing in his head.

"This is when I leave the "friendly neighborhood Red Dragon" note. Can I borrow a pen?" Peter asked. The Trapster's eyes widened. Peter raised an eyebrow. What was he so afraid of? Peter turned around.

"Wow. The SHIELD Hellicarrier is coming in low." Peter commented. It was barely clearing the rooftops overhead.

"Red Dragon, huh?" a voice behind him asked. Peter jumped, then spun around. It was Nick Fury.

"Who's that?" Caedis wondered.

"You super-spies making a point to sneak up on hard-working heroes?" Peter asked, partially to answer Caedis's question.

"Kid, we gotta talk." Fury said, pointing to their surroundings. Glue was sprayed everywhere. All over the pavement, all over a cop car, all over a cop horse, all over some people. Not a pretty sight. It was gonna take somebody hours to clean this up. Peter sighed.

After a brief talk with Fury, that ended with Fury presenting him with an enhanced web-shooter, Peter continued on to school. SHIELD tech had improved on his old design, making it so he could actually use a wrist-mounted web-shooter again. His old ones had exploded the first time he'd used his new fire-ball attack. The intense heat had caused the web-fluid to expand until it pushed apart the metal pieces of the web-shooter. This new web-shooter was fire-proof and heat resistant. Peter had pocketed it immediately. He'd missed web-swinging. His new dragon-powers did not include flight.

At school, MJ showed him a video of JJJ being a jerk and announced she wanted to work for him. He wasn't exactly thrilled. She explained that she couldn't be picky if she wanted to be a reporter. Flash Thompson shoved him into a locker again. The janitor let him out just in time for lunch. He got in line behind Harry Osborn, his best friend.

"Dude, locker-knocker time again? Thompson's such a tool." Harry said.

"If that's the worst thing that happens to me today, I'm coming out ahead." Peter said pessimistically as they reached their preferred lunch table and sat down. Then Caedis shouted a warning in his head.

"Hit the deck!" Caedis shouted. He threw himself over the table grabbing MJ and Harry as he did. At the same time, the wall collapsed inward. Peter turned to look as the super-villains responsible for the destruction stepped in though the hole in the wall.

"Attention, students. Your principal has something to tell you." the Wizard said. The principal floated in through the hole.

"Students. Your attention, please. The school is now under the control of... of..." the principal trailed off.

"The Frightful Four." Thundra said.

"Uh. There's only three of you." MJ pointed out.

"Quiet." the Wizard commanded, throwing the principal into a wall.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Caedis demanded.

"The Wizard. Master of high-tech gadgets." Peter mumbled under his breath. The Wizard threw out several anti-gravity disks, which attached to tables and chairs around him. The tables and chairs immediately began floating towards the ceiling.

"Klaw. The villain made of living sound." Peter continued. Klaw lifted his metal claw and blasted the ceiling with a sonic attack, raining debris down on the students.

"Thundra. Ruthless warrior woman from an alternate future timeline. Don't ask." Peter finished. Thundra ran forward and punched a pillar, taking a huge chunk out of it.

"Hmm." Caedis responded. "And I'm guessing the Trapster makes four of them?"

"Yeah." Peter muttered.

"Before the Trapster was captured, he learned the Red Dragon attends this school. And unless he gives himself up, we'll tear this place down brick by brick." the Wizard said, floating forward.

"Yeah!" one of the students shouted.

"We're serious." the Wizard said turning to look at the offender. The kid put his hands over his mouth.

"Klaw." the Wizard said holding up his hand. Klaw lifted his, well, claw, and blasted the ceiling, raining debris down on the students. Everyone cried out and ran to the sides of the room to avoid being crushed.

"So, who is our mysterious fire-breather?" the Wizard asked. "A teacher? A student? A cafeteria lady?"

He floated around looking at everyone.

"They seem reluctant to talk. Klaw, make them listen to reason." the Wizard said. Klaw blasted the entire lunch room with sound. Everyone screamed in pain.

"Stop it!" Peter shouted.

"Peter, no!" MJ yelled at him. The Wizard turned to him.

"Ha. Definitely not the Red Dragon." the Wizard said. Peter glowered at him.

"I'll crush the runt." Thundra said, stepping forward.

"Don't crush him. Make an example of him." the Wizard said. Klaw blasted Peter with his sonic attack. Peter fell to the floor screaming.

"Shut it down! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Peter screamed. The Wizard gestured to Klaw, who stopped his sonic attack. Peter got to his feet using a lunch table as leverage. He paused to stare at a tray of food. An idea began to take shape.

"Well? You have something to say, boy?" the Wizard asked.

"Listen up. Everyone needs to hear this." Peter said. "Food fight!"

As he said the last part, he grabbed the tray of food and hurled it at the Wizard. All the students started yelling and grabbing food to hurl at the super-villains. The villains tried to fight back, only to be knocked back by the sheer force of numbers. Peter stealthily made his way behind a pillar to change. He climbed part-way up the pillar, his eyes turning yellow with slitted pupils as he went into dragon-mode. His hair made the change from brown to dark red. The features of his face became sharper, more defined. His fingernails became claws.

"This is nuts. How do they know? How did they find us?" Peter asked Caedis, as he began pulling off his outer wear to reveal his costume.

"I don't know. Are they trackers?" Caedis asked him. Peter paused to pull a metal microchip from his vest. He examined it. Tracking device. Duh.

"Fury was right. I have a lot to learn about responsibility." Peter said, crushing the tracker. He pulled on his mask. Then he scooted around the pillar to view the room. Klaw was about to blast some students with his sonic attack. He was pointing his claw at them.

"Dude, don't point that thing! It might go off!" Peter shouted. Then he fired a strand of webbing from his web-gun. It adhered to Klaw's claw and Peter yanked on it, causing the blast to be redirected towards Klaw himself. Blasted by his own sonic attack, Klaw stumbled forward into a pillar. Caedis laughed.

"It really stinks to be you today. Actually, it probably stinks to be you every day. Then again, it could be me. I haven't washed this suit in a week." Peter said. Caedis made a disgusted sound.

"Hate to break it to you, Thundra, but..." Peter said as he jumped off the pillar into Thundra.

"You're not the kind of woman dragons want to enjoy the company of." Peter finished, as he flipped her face first into a bowl of something green.

"Implying what? That she's a slut?" Caedis asked. Peter smirked.

Somewhere else entirely...

"Ha ha, excellent." Dr. Octavius said to himself. Then to Mr. Osborn he said, "The Wizard has the Red Dragon engaged in combat. The team will gain a detailed profile of his powers."

"Good." Mr. Osborn said.

"There is the small matter of witnesses. Shall I have the Frightful Four destroy Midtown High?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"Midtown?" exclaimed Mr. Osborn. "No, you fool! My son is there!"

Back at Midtown High...

Peter jumped and ducked and weaved, dodging Klaw's sonic attacks along with Thundra's bone-crushing haymakers. The Wizard joined in, levitating several lunch tables and chairs. Petal shot out a web-line, which adhered to Klaw's claw, and whipped him around to aim at Thundra. She was blasted across the room. Continuing to pull on the web-line, Peter swung Klaw towards the Wizard, who shielded himself with the lunch tables before launching them at Peter.

"Looks like I'm off to see the Wizard." Peter declared as he began jumping up and climbing the flying lunch tables. Caedis groaned at the cheesy joke.

"You need to work on your one-liners." Caedis said, as Peter shot out another web-line. It stuck to a lunch table which he then pulled into the Wizard sending him crashing into a wall. He left a Wizard-shaped dent in it.

"Guess that's one way to make an impression." Peter said.

"Better." Caedis said. "Now work on your delivery."

Peter spotted Thundra pulling herself out of a pile of debris. She was streaked with cafeteria food.

"You know, creamed corn is really a good color on you." Peter said. Thundra snarled, and broke a countertop. Peter jumped and shot out a web-line. Thundra grabbed it in midair and pulled, slamming Peter into the ground.

"Good one." Caedis said, sarcastically. Thundra started running towards him, but tripped on a plate of gelatin that MJ kicked her way. Thundra slid across the floor and crashed into some tables. MJ filmed it all on her camera phone.

"Here's my first front page story." MJ said, turning around to film Klaw. Klaw spotted her, saw what she was doing, and blasted her phone to pieces with his sonic attack. MJ clutched her hand in pain. Harry ran over and grabbed her.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" he yelled at Klaw. Klaw fired again, this time hitting Harry right in the solar plexus. Peter, who was just now recovering, saw everything.

"Oh no. Harry." he said. Caedis sighed.

"This school is full of would-be heroes." Klaw declared. Peter got up and launched himself at Klaw using a web-line. He kicked Klaw clear across the room.

"Behind you!" Caedis warned. Peter spun around, and caught Thundra's fist as she attempted to punch him. He switched his web-gun from web-line to web-spray, and spun her around, spraying her with webbing until she was completely covered in it. Some student started cheering for him, only to find themselves lifted off their feet by the Wizard. He had attached anti-gravity disks to their backs and was now floating them up towards the ceiling.

"Floating hostages." the Wizard said to himself. "Red Dragon won't dare attack."

Peter picked up Thundra and feigned that he was about to throw her at the Wizard. The Wizard pulled his arms up in front of himself and moved the hostages in front of him. A human shield. Peter dropped Thundra.

"Real smart, whiz. You left the back door open." Peter declared. He jumped and slid under the Wizard, before firing a web-line and yanking hard on it. The Wizard went flying with a shout. He crashed into a pile of tables. He pulled himself out of it, just in time for Peter to kick him in the face. He went flying a second time and flew through the doors to the hallway. Peter followed him into the hallway.

"Red Dragon!" Flash Thompson said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. "Flash Thompson. I'm your biggest fan! Let me help, bro!"

"Definitely, bro." Peter said. His sarcasm was lost on Flash. Peter opened a locker.

"Step in." he said. Flash got in.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Wait for my signal. Jump out, and we'll surround them." Peter said, dramatically. "Remember, wait for my signal."

He shut the locker door. Caedis sighed.

"Really?" she asked.

"Immature, I know." Peter muttered. "But it felt so good."

He heard a loud shout from behind the doors to the lunch room and jumped for the ceiling. He was inside the ventilation in a flash. The doors collapsed outward.

"Where is he?" Thundra asked, as she and Klaw entered the hallway. The Wizard floated over. A police siren began to wail in the distance.

"We're not being paid to fight cops." the Wizard said. "Let's go."

They left. Peter ran back to the lunchroom grabbed his clothes and ran back out. He quickly changed, before running back to the lunchroom again. He approached the group of people swarming around Harry. He pushed his way to the center of the crowd. He crouched next to Harry.

"Oh, this is all my fault." Peter said. He glanced up. Harry's dad had arrived, along with the police.

"Mr. Osborn." Peter said. "I'm sorry."

"Why apologize, Peter?" Mr. Osborn asked. "What could you have possibly done?"

Later, at the hospital...

"There's still some ringing in my ears." Harry said, as the nurses disconnected him from the monitoring equipment. "But the Doc says I'll be fine tomorrow."

"Awesome." Peter replied.

"Strangest thing, Peter." Mr. Osborn said. "Those villains seemed to believe that Red Dragon goes to your school. Do you know anything about that?"

"Huh. I think he sits next to me in Spanish." Peter said.

"Hola! Donde esta la biblioteca?" Caedis asked sarcastically. Resisting the urge to laugh, Peter smiled at Mr. Osborn. He seemed confused.

"No, sir." Peter said, to clarify. "I've never heard that."

"He's just joking, dad. Peter does it all the time." Harry said.

"I see." Mr. Osborn said.

"Well, I'd better get home." Peter said. "Aunt May will have seen the news. She'll start to worry if I don't come home soon."

Later, at the Parker residence...

When Peter walked into the kitchen, the Daily Bugle news was playing on the TV. JJJ was ranting about Peter's most recent adventure.

"Peter." his aunt said as she looked up at him.

"Hi, aunt May." Peter said.

"Are you OK?" aunt May asked. She turned the TV off.

"I heard there was trouble at your school." she said.

"Those psychos never touched me, aunt May." he said. She smiled, and went back to cutting carrots.

"You know what? If we had Norman Osborn's money, I'd put you in private school immediately." she said.

"Yeah, that'd be sweet." Peter said, unenthused. "Hey, when's dinner?"

"It's almost ready." she said. "Put the candles on the cake."

"Cake?" Peter gasped. Caedis sighed.

"Yes. The cake you promised to pick up in the city today." aunt May said. "Ben's favorite."

She looked at him.

"You didn't get distracted again, did you Peter?" she asked.

"Um, I'm sorry, aunt May, I guess I..." Peter mumbled.

"That's all right." she said. "With all that happened today at school, I couldn't expect you to remember. I'm just happy you made it home safely."

Later, after dinner...

Peter was back in his bedroom, looking at a picture of him, his aunt, and uncle Ben.

"I can't believe I let her down." he said.

"Why?" Caedis asked. Her voice was audible this time, not just in his head. He looked up. To his surprise he could see what appeared to be a teenage girl in his mirror. She had short, dark, red hair. She was wearing a sequined red dress. Her fingernails were claws, and she had pointy ears and teeth. Her eyes were yellow with slitted pupils.

She spoke, "Your always letting people down, Peter. And the people closest to you are always getting hurt. Your uncle, and Harry. You can't even get a cake home."

"Well, what would you suggest?" Peter asked, bitterly.

"Training. You need it, badly. And better tech. Your web-shooters explode around dragon-fire, but I bet there's a way to prevent that." she said.

"Where would I get the money for research?" Peter asked.

" Dragon life lesson number one: Never buy it yourself if you can get someone else to buy it for you." Caedis said.

"Who would pay for it?" he asked.

"SHIELD gave you a better web-shooter didn't they?" she asked. "Plus, a job offer. They'll pay you to use their tech."

"They could probably train me too." Peter said. "I like this idea!"

"Then what the heck are you waiting for?" Caedis asked.

Later, in the city...

"OK, let's do this." Peter said. "Put out the welcome mat SHIELD. The dragon's come a calling."

He ran along roof tops until he reached his destination. The tallest building directly under the Hellicarrier. He ran straight up the tower and jumped as high as he could. He fired off his web-gun. It shot out a web-line that crumpled in the air, not even crossing half the distance to the Hellicarrier.

"Great." Peter said. He pulled out his new web-shooter and put it on. "Fury's tech-boys better be on their game, or I'm street pizza."

He fired again. This time the web-line made it. He gave a great yank and sailed up onto the surface of the Hellicarrier.

"Not bad." he said, looking down at the web-shooter. "But is it dragon-fire-proof?"

Suddenly, an alarm went off, blaring loudly in his ears.

"INTRUDER ALERT!" it screamed over and over. Turrets came out of the wall and began firing at him. Caedis started shouting.

"Dodge left! Now right!" she yelled in his head.

"What the heck is this?" Peter yelled. "Dragon-slayer target-practice?"

He began shooting fire blasts at the turrets. They exploded on impact, disintegrating the turrets. He jumped up high, and landed on the top on the Hellicarrier. Two larger turrets came out, followed by several smaller ones. Laser targeting systems activated, sending bright red beams of light at him. He shifted slightly, the beams followed.

"Hmm." he said. He glanced to his right. Fury was standing next to him. Fury gave him a look, then deactivated the security system with a remote control. Amusingly, it made a sound similar to a car being locked via a key fob. Peter pulled off his mask.

"Your friendly neighborhood, Ultimate Red Dragon reporting for duty, sir!" he said, saluting.

"Welcome to SHIELD, Red Dragon. Hope you survive the experience." Fury said, turning to walk inside. Peter followed him.


End file.
